It looks like the days of you using your roommate’s boyfriend’s parents HBO Go account are numbered.

Cable TV providers are reportedly cracking down on the “illicit” password-sharing of cable TV and streaming accounts, which has cost them millions of subscribers and billions of dollars in revenue. For many, this could make it decidedly difficult to live as a TV buff in the era of Peak TV and overpriced living conditions.

If you’ve ever logged into your parents’ HBO Go account, or let your girlfriend use your Netflix login, then you, my friend, may have committed a federal crime. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that it is illegal to use someone else’s password to access a service without the OK of the system’s owner (that’d be the company who provides the service, not the person paying for the subscription). Meaning, yes, we are all lawbreakers now. Read More »

HBO Go is finally getting with the times. Starting in 2015, HBO will offer their on-demand service as a separate subscription unattached to the cable TV channel in the United States. The way it is now, you can only use the HBO Go on-demand service if you also subscribe to the channel through your cable provider. Many people who’ve stopped subscribing to cable were disappointed by the restriction, but it’s finally going away. Read how to get HBO Go without cable below. Read More »

Every single day, more TV fans are cutting the cord. Which means they cancel their overpriced, underperforming cable in exchange for only the Internet. With services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and numerous others, there’s almost nothing you can’t stream over the Internet without a cable subscription. One notable exception being HBO.

HBO does have their HBO Go service available with select devices, but up until now you’ve had to subscribe to their cable service to get a log in. Or use your friends. Now AT&T U-Verse is moving ahead with a $39 per month bundle that would get you not only a year of Internet, but HBO Go and Amazon Prime as well. Deals like this AT&T HBO Go bundle are most likely the way of the future. Read More »

Cable-cutters have long hoped for a standalone HBO Go option, even petitioning the premium channel to “take my money” already. But according to Jeff Bewkes, that’s not a dream that’s likely to come true anytime soon.

The Time-Warner CEO stated today that such an offering simply isn’t in the company’s “economic best interest” right now, despite HBO chief Richard Plepler‘s tentative recent remarks to the contrary. Hit the jump to read Bewkes’ comments.

HBO Go is pretty sweet if you’re already an HBO subscriber. The streaming service gives users access to HBO’s entire catalog of films and TV shows — everything from Girls to The Sopranos — from any computer, iPad, iPhone, or Android phone. Earlier this year, the company further sweetened the deal by enabling AirPlay, allowing customers to play video on their Apple TVs. But all that convenience comes with a hefty price tag: a basic cable package to begin with, plus an HBO subscription on top of that. It’s not uncommon for customers to shell out upwards of $100 per month in total.

From the service’s launch, would-be customers have been begging HBO for a standalone HBO Go option to serve those who just want the streaming but don’t want to pay for cable. So far, the premium cable giant has steadfastly insisted that the economics “are not particularly compelling.” But times are changing, and as of yesterday the company is singing a slightly different tune. In a recent interview, HBO CEO Richard Plepler acknowledged that HBO Go could team with broadband providers in the future. Hit the jump to read more.

Arrested Development Season 4 will be available solely through Netflix when it debuts this May, but that doesn’t mean it’s stuck on the streaming service forever. Fox, not Netflix, owns the rights to the series, and Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos confirmed at AllThingsD’s Dive Into Media conference this week that the comedy could hit DVD or iTunes once Netflix’s license runs out.

Still, serious Arrested addicts should probably just bite the bullet and shell out for a Netflix subscription. While Sarandos wouldn’t reveal just how long Netflix’s exclusive deal was, he confirmed that it was “longer than the typical license.” It’ll probably still be some time, then, before we can watch the Bluths’ exploits without a WiFi connection. [Mashable]

After the jump, HBO Go enables AirPlay and casts an eye toward Apple TV, but still has no plans to split off as a standalone service.

There’s no denying that streaming video has been a boon for movie lovers. Where you once had to wait for the local video store to actually stock a physical copy of a film you wanted to watch, now all you have to do if you want to watch, say, Big at home is log onto Netflix and click the “play” button.

Unless Big isn’t on Netflix, in which case it’s time to comb through HBO Go, Hulu Plus, or Amazon Instant if you already have a subscription. Maybe Vudu or iTunes, if you don’t. And then after all that, if it turns out none of the streaming services are offering Big for the price you’re willing to pay, you’ve just wasted ten minutes for nothing. Not the worst thing in the world, but perhaps not exactly how you wanted to use your time.

Yeah, streaming in general is certainly super convenient, but actually finding the exact movie you want isn’t always. Enter Roku, which has just added a very helpful universal search feature to its set-top boxes. Now all it takes is a single search to pinpoint exactly which service has Big, and for how much. Hit the jump to read more.

HBO programming is among the most in-demand, on-demand programming out there. Everyone wants to stream show like The Sopranos, Sex and the City and The Wire but they’re not available on any of the major sites. So when HBO annoucned their own service, HBO Go, fans got very excited. That excitement quickly faded when HBO revealed Go would only be available to current cable subscribers. You had to pay for HBO on TV for the option to stream it on your computer.

Well now HBO is finally offering people who have given up their cable bills a chance to see shows like Game of Thrones, Girls and Boardwalk Empire on demand. The only catch is you have to live inDenmark, Norway or Sweden. HBO Nordic, a new service available in the northern European area known as Scandinavia, will have an option to pay only for the on-demand service without a cable subscription. Is this just a test run for an eventual North American roll out? Read more after the jump. Read More »

Thanks to the proliferation of digital services like Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, and Amazon Instant Video, it’s easier now than ever to get your fill of TV without actually owning a TV. Unless, that is, you want to watch Game of Thrones or True Blood. HBO’s been famously stubborn about not offering a standalone HBO Go service for non-subscribers, and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes says that’s not about to change anytime soon.

One reason for that, Bewkes says, is that cord-cutting is actually not all that prevalent. “[T]he whole idea that there’s a lot of people out there that want to drop multichannel TV, and just have a Netflix or an HBO — that’s not right,” he told investors. “Look for the data, you won’t find them.” HBO’s entire business model is built around the idea that people will pay for cable, and so far that assumption is paying off. AllThingsD reports that the combined subscriber base for HBO and Cinemax has increased by over 7 million in the past six months.

Nor is Netflix likely to become an option for those who’d like to get their Girls fix without adding to their monthly cable bill. “There are not talks going on between HBO and Netflix,” he said to analysts. [Gizmodo, Deadline]

After the jump, some better news for those mythical cord-cutters as Apple TV adds Hulu Plus and the iPad adds Amazon Instant Video.